Tree Amongst The Leaves
by Shaded Silvering Grey
Summary: "'There is no glory in battle worth the blood it costs.' Dwight D. Eisenhower" The past Shinobi World Wars stole too much from all involved. Many fell, short lived, only a season. See who has weathered the storm, battered but not broken. See who was a tree amonst the leaves.
1. Reluctant Reminiscence

_**Tree Amongst the Leaves**_

* * *

**Chapter One: **_Reluctant Reminiscence_

* * *

The continuous landscape of sand had been traveling past her for almost two days now. Even at her top speed, she hadn't seen the endless dips and dunes of the Land of Wind give way to her home forests of Fire country yet.

_Kami, when will this damn sand trap end! _she bemoaned, and not for the first time considered going on strike if she was offered a mission anywhere _near _sand anytime soon.

As if the aforementioned deity had heard her irreverent prayer, outlines of trees appeared in the distance.

_Yes! Oh please, __**please, **__don't be a mirage._

With renewed vigor, her strides grew longer in her haste to return home and escape the never-ending desert. The vague, shifting shapes took on the definite image of trees behind a short plane of desert scrub. With relief, she let out the sigh she had unconsciously been holding.

_Home at last._

(_Later, she'll regret that she thought too soon and jinxed the possibility of an easy return_.)

As she entered the field that transitioned from sand to grass, a whistling kunai embedded itself into her right shoulder-blade. A shriek of pain began to escape her throat before she abruptly clamped her mouth shut.

_"Morie, Hikaru, Takahiro, keep your pain to yourself. It is not essential to scream, hence unnecessary. Ninja code: Energy is to be preserved at all cost. Any unnecessary action should be effectively avoided. By this interpretation (and as it is mine it is your law and world), you have violated code."_

Ragged breathing escaped her from the wound and accompanying memory. She scanned the area with a quick, expert eye, narrowly avoiding collisions with various well-aimed projectiles.

_Ah, three Suna-nin — most likely jounin — positioned one o'clock, nine o'clock, five o'clock._

A flurry of familiar handsigns brought carefully controlled vines to entangle the ninja at one o'clock. Her hands reached to the memorized spot, and twin swords flew out of their holsters in a practiced movement, ready to hunt, ready to prey, ready to devour their enemies.

_Great, now I'm giving my swords personalities_. _Bloodthirsty ones at that._

She stood in basic defensive posture; her swords crossed and prepared to strike when the time was right. The Suna jounin flew at her. A tanto was hastily deflected before striking her throat, and a quick turn of her hips and spine spared her from near paraplegia.

"Ah, do you two _really _need to _tag team _me?!" In the brush with death, she hadn't noticed the ANBU mask falling from her face.

A smirk that could almost be described as a _playful _tilt of the lips graced the tanto-carrying man's face.

"No, not really Morie-chan,— "

"But better safe than sorry!" the man's identical twin finished. His poisoned senbon continued to barrage her as she danced away from the two.

"I see. The Onihara twins of Sunagakure. Very disrespectful to treat strangers like that, though hats off gentlemen, very good form, but I really should go back and report on that assassination." She really wanted to abstain from potentially (imminently) violent conflict in her current injured condition. Coupled with her already battered state, touchy sarcasm began to leak through her voice.

"Likewise here, but we require proof of purchase, so please lend us your head!" The Tanto twin feigned towards her abdomen, then twisted last moment to hit the back of her neck. If not for a lot skill and fool's luck, she would have been blacked out instead of just being grazed.

"Hey, I thought you wanted my _head_, not _me_!"

The third ninja sprang out from her prison of vines. She sent a soaring kick that left the clearly Konoha-nin sprawled on her back.

"Well, information is rather convenient as well, you know. Maybe a few positions here, a supply base there, you know, the works." She whipped around to stonily glare at her deadly, playful colleagues. _Yes, unfortunately, I have to work with__**them**_, she thought. "You two should be ashamed. You two should be ashamed that you left me when _one _of you was _more _than capable enough to knock her out." As the disgruntled kunoichi railed against her (in her opinion) mentally handicapped teammates, a puff of smoke was let out from the "body."

"What was that?!"

With lightning speed, the Konoha-nin's sword pierced the nearest Suna jounin to her. Senbon-twin crumpled in on himself, giving one last gurgled breath before going still.

"_Sora_!" The remaining twin ran over to his brother's side, trying in vain to awaken him.

"Tsubasa-san, you really shouldn't turn your back to the enemy. It leaves you much too _vulnerable_." She moved to strike the man, but the kunoichi ran in to attempt to save her teammate.

"Come on, would you let me get a clean hit every once in a while?" The Suna kunoichi attempted to deliver a blow to a pressure point, but had to duck and weave away from the deadly wakizashi carried by Morie. Morie's exasperation and weariness grew with every deflected hit and every parry she had to make.

"Get over here! You killed my brother! _Die_, Morie-_hime_." Hate was dripping off his words, the malice almost tangible.

_Strong, callused fingers brushed through her hair. Normally she would have died at such attention from her (possibly) careless crush, but circumstances had changed. "Your hair was always so beautiful, Morie." His typical lilting tenor began to take on a darker tone. "Too bad defection requires such drastic measures…" His next words were an echo of the remaining twin's words, perfectly similar, right down to the loathing hiss._

_"__**Die**__, Morie-hime."_

"_Don't you dare remind me_!" Tears, hot and fresh, rolled down her cheeks, her heart still in the past even as her mind traced out a move that would finish the fight. With an angered, sorrowful cry, she swung her swords with her last store of strength, and the two enemy ninja fell to the ground.

Panting heavily from exertion, Morie grabbed her mask then launched herself onto the final leg of the journey into Fire country forests.

* * *

As the adrenaline wore off and the pain increased, Morie stopped on a platform-like tree branch. Callused hands gripped onto rough knees as great pants escaped the kunoichi. Her muscles were screaming at her, telling her to collapse and get the hell on with dying.

"Damn, that was a shit job on my part."

She looked over herself, running shaking hands over her newly acquired wounds. She hadn't realized how nasty the shoulder wound had been. She had left the kunai in during battle so she wouldn't just bleed out. With a sigh of resignation, she groped through her bag until she found a half-emptied bottle of sake and a head scarf she had used in the harsh sun of the desert.

_"Smooth, Mo-chan, smooth to forget your first aid kit… again._" _Hyuuga Haruki was trying with all his patient might to get through to his sister-lie teammate the importance of a first aid kit, even if it wasn't necessarily required by the village. Mayu-sensei wanted them to have one, at least, they were fairly sure since she only made a passing comment on it. If she thought she should break her perpetual silence for that, then it must be important. _

_"I didn't __forget __it; I __misplaced __it. There's a difference, Medic-san!" _

_"Sensei's gonna get early wrinkles from you, I swear."_

"Haru-kun, I still need you to get on my case." She took a swig of sake to occupy her, and then swiftly pulled the kunai out, keeping it straight so as not to compound the damage. "Oh—shitshitshitshitshit_shit._" Deft hands poured the rest of the sake into the wound as a makeshift antiseptic. The stinging, throbbing agony was too much for her to even get a coherent word out, only managing a pain-filled groan. Using her left hand, she tore the clean head scarf into a manageable strip. She managed to get it on as a half-decent bandage. Wincing from all her efforts, she stood back up to continue her journey.

_"You're lucky that wasn't poisoned,__Mo-chan." Haruki was tying off a carefully wrapped bandage on her abdomen as he spoke with a gently chastising tone._

_Morie was grimacing. "Haruki, please shut up." _

Always the same response to his motherly comments, present or past. She looked up to the sky to see dark clouds congregating.

"Oh, _just _what I wanted right now. _So_nice to be drenched in autumn weather." With a quick surveillance to check for any trackers, she took off towards Konoha for hopefully the last time this mission.

* * *

Her hooded figure arrived at the ANBU entrance gate, soaking wet and rather in a bad sorts. The ANBU guards keeping post were taking shelter under the arch.

"State ID number, family name, given name, mask, rank, purpose, and check question three," a gruff male voice barked out.

"ID #006709, family name Senju, given name Morie, kitsutsuki-san, regular ANBU operative, returning from an individual mission without my team, Sensei's favorite book was _Paper Crane Wishes and Butterfly Wing Kisses_."

The ANBU operatives bowed politely in reply, then stepped to the sides and formed the handsigns to opened the gate. "Welcome back, Sempai. Hokage-sama will be awaiting your mission report."

A courteous nod acknowledged the man's words. "And hopefully for the last time," was what the guards thought Morie mumbled as she stalked past him.

* * *

**AN: This would not be possible without .be., my wonderful bestfriend/beta/co-writter/everything. Elly, you are my saving grace.**


	2. Coerced Consent

_**Tree Amongst the Leaves**_

* * *

**Chapter Two:** _Coerced Consent_

* * *

Quick steps padded silently to the Hokage office. A quick rap on the heavy oak doors was met by a gruff, "Enter."

The figure slipped inside, and closed the door behind her as she let out a sigh of relief at the familiar surroundings.

"Ah, welcome back, Kitsutsuki-san. I am supposing your mission was met with success?" Sarutobi Hiruzen looked up from his stack of papers, eyes that were lined with bags meeting the ANBU operative's.

"Hai, Hokage-sama, the assassination was completed. Target: Ambassador Tsuki Yukihana of Iwagakure, delegate to Sunagakure was eliminated five days, eight hours, thirty…" a quick glance at a watch to confirm the time before she continued crisply, "thirty-seven minutes ago. Secured sealed scroll found on target bearing Tushikage's seal. Returning, I encountered patrol squad consisting of two special jounin: capture and interrogation, other unknown. Eliminated Sora and Tsubasa Onihara and unidentified female member. "

"Morie-san, I-"

A sharp glance obscured by the porcelain woodpecker mask was still detected by the Hokage. Yes, always one for sticking to protocol. "Kitsutsuki-san, why did you not identify the female?"

"I was severely fatigued, freshly wounded, and losing blood, Hokage-sama. I did not wish to loiter and risk being subdued by another team, in which case I would surely be eliminated or captured, _sir_."

The monotone would seem impudent to some, but he could sense the internal battle waging inside of her. He could tell she was fighting of the urge to pass out with all her might, and so with benevolent understanding let it slide. "Understood. Well done, but as a regular operative, you should take more team missions, fewer individuals, Kitsutsuki-san. Why do you not?"

"I applied to be instated in exclusive assassination service. I was denied that, _Hokage-sama_." The words came out more bitter than she intended, and she winced.

The distaste was becoming more noticeable in her voice; Hiruzen decided he would have a bit of fun with her and her protocol.

A creeping smile tugged at his lips. "Well, as you should be aware, Kitsutsuki-san, one must be in the ranks of ANBU for a minimum of _four _years before being entrusted with assassination as a specialized singular unit. I believe you have been in the ranks for only _two _years."

"I was in ANBU for eleven _years_! I was just on hiatus for seven years! _You know that_!"Her control snapped for a moment, and under her mask her features were twisted in a snarl.

"Control yourself, Kitsutsuki-san. You formally resigned. Rejoining, even under original ANBU registration number, reset your mission, rank, and year stats."

A quiet growl was coming from Morie. What had started as a debriefing had deteriorated into a squabble between two old friends. Well, _sort _of friends, one being a Hokage with a vindictive streak from overbearing superiors (namely, _Morie_) and the other being a headstrong kunoichi with no patience left.

With an annoyed huff, she pulled a scroll from the pouch on her wrist, and held then out before tearing the mask off her face violently. "I have been considering this for a while now, Hokage-sama. I resign!"

A surprisingly _unsurprised _look came upon the middle-aged Hiruzen's face. He looked down at the woodpecker mask on the table, having just been little less than slammed on there along with the resignation papers, already signed, sealed, and now delivered. "Resignation accepted."

Now a rather shocked expression found its way onto Morie's face. "W-what?"

The Hokage fished around in his desk until he found a set of bound folders. "But because ANBU requires five years of service for leaving to really count as resignation, this will be on your record as quitting."

Morie resisted the urge to say "fuck the record" and continued to reason what was going on. The red Hokage signature over her ANBU files officially marked it as retired.

_But aren't those files kept under lock and key in the archives? But he had them on hand, signed no less…Bastard! He knew I would resign! Err…quit!_

"This is quite convenient actually, Morie-san. I was meaning to reassign you."

She was going to correct the address, but realizing that she was no longer Kitsutsuki distracted her to the point where she nearly missed the last statement.

"Reassign me? Where?"

"Senju Morie, you will be assigned to Team 6, graduating tomorrow from the academy."

"Team, sir? Graduating? You don't- you _can't _mean a genin team! You are _well _aware that I only joined ANBU because of constantly rotating teams, and vowed to not be on a semi-permanent team _ever again_! I refuse."

"I believe you also swore fidelity to your village and its leader."

"Please, _please_, don't make me do this." Ah, onto the begging stage. Good thing that the anger phase passed fairly quickly. "I'll retire to the hills if you make me!" And then the threatening.

"We both know you are a ninja through and through. You would never _really _leave this life. Your options are the following: be slightly miserable and help your village, or be miserable while doing nothing. _Think_, you are intelligent, which would be better? A genin team needs a sensei, and you need to train them to be prepared for that war out there."

The words had been spoken gently, but he knew that he'd hit a nerve, and he truly felt guilty for that. He knew what she had seen, what she had gone through. He knew that what he was doing was cruel, _vicious _even by her psyche's reasoning. To put her through _that_ pain again was very likely with the damned war on, but he couldn't suffer a team to be incompetent. He needed battle-hardened, no-nonsense sensei that weren't teaching for a résumé or easy missions, but for survival, damn it. And the difficult decisions had to be made by him. He'd rather be a bastard that ruined a few lives than a saint who lost a village.

The persuasion and psychological manipulation worked. He knew it just took a little time and technique to break down Morie, and broken she was, shoulders hunched, head bowed.

"Remember the bigger picture, Morie-chan," he murmured words that the Nidaime Hokage had told him once, "We are only two out of _many_. We _must _make sacrifices for the village."

A whispered consent fell from her lips and she bowed to him.

"Hai, _Hokage-sama_."

* * *

The housing district of Konoha was as varied as its inhabitants. Apartments went from well-maintained townhouses with manicured flower boxes on windowsills in the yuppie section to precarious high-rises that lacked decent ventilation in the first place, dating back to founding era and war refugees.

Morie had lived in the long, the short, the wide, the tall, the friendly, the unsavory, and most everything in between. But the type she preferred was the lower middle class section in all honesty. The people weren't trying to be anything but themselves. The rooms themselves were simple, sparsely furnished, and didn't yell "Rob me, I'm filthy rich and terribly naïve!" or "If you look this way, I'll fucking kill you!" Quite perfect for ninja that just wanted to relax between missions. And that is where Senju Morie was currently sulking, in her cozy apartment, while cleaning and polishing her twin wakizashi.

"I should just quit altogether and be done with it." A heavy sigh escaped her lips as she inspected the edges of the swords. Still in perfect condition. Oh well, she could still wipe the thing to brilliance to get out the frustration. "Why, why does the bastard have to hold that over me. I really want to strangle him sometimes." She turned her head towards her night stand by the bed across the room. She couldn't make out the picture perfectly from where she was, but she knew it by heart. There was a three-man genin team, with a sensei standing behind them.

The sensei's expression was almost impossible to make out beneath her hood and shaded glasses, but a small tilt of the lips was sufficient to show her happiness. "Mayu-sensei…always the quiet type."

On Mayu's left was a boy, almost feminine in his features, with dark brown hair that fell to his mid back, tied an inch or two above the end. Pale, pupil-less grey eyes held his smile more than just his quirked lips. "Haruki-kun, you should really smile more."

On the right of Mayu was a boy a bit tall for his age. His aloof expression and noble carriage clearly said to the viewer "I really rather not be here." Calculating brown eyes framed by messy, thick black locks were trying their best not to kill the photographer with a painful genjutsu. "Takahiro-kun, so photogenic but always hating pictures. Figures."

The last member stood in between the two boys, an anxious, excited look in her hazel eyes. Auburn hair with a heavy red tint was in two braids that fell to her waist. The freckles across her high cheekbones and nose where more noticeable because of a blush beneath them. "And I always looked like a dork."

"Maybe a team wouldn't be _too _bad." A half-hearted smile graced Morie's exhausted visage. It stayed there until a sudden anxiety overtook her. The twin swords gently clenched in her palms clattered to the ground as she doubled over.

_Red covered everything. Screams, moans, sounds of agony filled everything. Stress turned it all into white noise. "No, damn it, no!" Everybody around her was falling, and as the world tilted unexpected, she found herself on the cold, hard ground. Pain coursed through her. The genin teams she had known since they had been assembled were all dead, dying, or about to die. A body fell beside her, the head lulled to the side, and it stared up at her with unblinking eyes. "Haruki!"_

She managed to break out of the flashback, gasping in absolute terror. Her stomach was coming up in to her mouth. Morie ran to the bathroom, expelling the contents of her stomach into the porcelain toilet. Panting, she rested her forehead on the edge. "It hasn't been this bad in a long time," was whispered to no one.

Finding strength enough to lift herself with the counter as support, she pulled an orange pill bottle out of the medicine cabinet, fumbling to open the child-proof cap with shaking hands. She threw back her head as she dry swallowed two pills and then turned sideways to awkwardly get some water out of the faucet. Her insides felt unsteadily light while every muscle in her body was tense, taut and rigid as a stretched steel cord. She pulled herself up with some effort, hands on the wall as she stumbled back to her bed and flopped down onto it.

_Damn it, I hate taking those things. I haven't had to for two months. I'm not some crazy that needs to be medicated. I-I don't need them right? _But traitorous thoughts said otherwise. _Yes, you do, Morie. You are a little crazy, aren't you? You're a shell of what you used to be. Admit it, you can't even think about __**them **__without your pills by you to save you. Remember it, huh? Blood, so much blood. It was rather masterfully done, wasn't it? You're a ninja, you know that killing can be oh so __**satisfying.**_

"Stop it! Please, shut up…" Morie pleaded with herself. One side effect to those anti-anxiety pills was _that _voice. The one in the back of her head that made it almost worth it to die, because she saw how utterly fucked up her life was.

That night Morie had dreams of death, blood, and kusarigama. That night, Morie fell asleep crying.

* * *

**Kitsutsuki-Woodpecker**

**Elly, thanks again, babe. Everybody, check out live .die. be on here. She is _amazing_. **

**Thanks to you livediebe, Okaami-chin, and ILoveTrunksBriefs for the wonderful reviews!**


	3. Mad Morie-sensei

**_Tree Amongst the Leaves_**

* * *

**Chapter Three:** _Mad Morie-sensei_

* * *

Morie woke up feeling like she'd had the crap kicked out of her. In a sense, she had. She rolled her head towards her night stand, checking the alarm clock. Only 2:00, that was wonderful, she could get six more hours until she had to get up for the day, and—wait. What?! She shot up and grabbed the clock, eyes wide. 2:00… in the evening!

"No, no, it can't be that late!" She closed her eyes and reopened them, willing the numbers to change in childish hope. Alas, the numbers didn't change. "I can't be late; I don't run late!" Practically killing herself falling out of the bed in a pile of sheets, she cursed, then darted to the closet next to the bathroom. For the first time in a long time, Morie found out how hard it was to put breast bindings on while brushing her teeth. Not something she really wanted to repeat. While pulling on her last sandal, she realized she hadn't brushed her hair. "Ah, just forget it."

She grabbed a hair tie, and ran out the door.

* * *

The classroom was in that awkward state between buzzing with excitement and puking with anxiety. It was the day where their fates would be decided, the day they got their sensei. The academy staff began to call the teams; the groans and cheers that accompanied the placements were pretty common, but in as the examiner called, "Team Eight: Nara Michiko, Yamanaka Kaito, Amikichi Naoto," three adolescents in the back remained quiet. All that remained was to wait for their sensei.

"So… do you think it will be a man or a woman?"

"I want it to be a lady so we won't have to get too dirty right now. I just got a manicure, and there is no way I'm going to break a nail."

"Akimichi, for a dude, you are such a girl."

"Yep, love you too Yamanaka."

The teasing was in good jest, both boys knowing each other long enough to poke fun at each other.

Silence followed after that, none of the three wanting to break it, as if the very next second a sensei would come through the door. The silence was too much for some though, and of course the more talkative of Team Eight tried to get rid of the unsteady feeling in his gut.

"Hey, does this outfit make me look fat. I mean, maroon is so great with my skin tone, but I'm not sure about how—"

"Oh, shut it. I'm really, _really, _not in the mood to be fashion police right now," snapped Kaito, tense from the waiting.

"Hey, I was just trying to pass the time…and look great! Not my fault sensei hasn't shown up yet."

"Um… guys?"

"What is it, Nara?"

"Well, _Yamanaka, _it's only been half an hour. Only one team is missing out of nine, so that is really only eleven point one repeating percent missing. Or closer to ten percent for practical purposes, so approximately ninety percent is left, leaving us in the majority." The two anxious boys looked over at their female teammate and had an unspoken agreement to shut up if that meant more numbers were going to be thrown at them.

"Sorry, Michi... I guess I-"

Right when the unusual Amikichi was going to address the girl and interrupt the Yamanaka's stuttering, a sensei strode the through the door.

"All right, Team Eight, meet me on the bridge, if you are actually willing to go through with this naïve idea that you're going to be 'heroic' ninja. Oh, and if you aren't there in five minutes, your asses are going back to the academy." As quickly as the lady sensei came through the door, she disappeared in a puff a smoke.

The rather shocked trio on the back row heard a meek Uchiha girl say something about a clone, but quickly came out of their stupor.

"What the hell was that?"

"I don't know, but…isn't the bridge like a seven minute run?"

"Crap!"

Sprinting out of the room, they tried to get to the bridge before their careers ended before they began.

* * *

Morie looked towards the path from the Academy. She glanced back down at her stopwatch. Yep, they wouldn't make it. Not by much, they were just rounding the bend; they tried, but they just didn't get there on time. A gentle smirk played on her features. Oh, this might actually turn out to be interesting.

Three panting, hacking adolescents stood before her, looking at her with hopeful eyes. "Did we make it?" was their unspoken question, and being the _gracious _lady that she was, she would put them out of their misery.

"Hello, my name is Senju Morie. I don't particularly care what your names are right now, so close your mouth, Blondie."

The obviously Yamanaka boy closed his parting lips and glared at her, which had exactly zero percent impact.

"You arrived here in five minutes thirty seven seconds. Go back."

"But that's not fair! We technically made it in five minutes if you weren't using a stopwatch!"

"All right, Specs, here's a lesson since I feel generous today: Life isn't fair, and ninja make life seem like justice incarnate. So, please wait, and _listen_."

"But... but we can't go back! We didn't even have a first day!"

"Go back to where, pray tell?"

"Um… the Academy? I mean, like, you totally told us that we'd have to retake all our courses if we didn't get here on time."

"I never said that."

"Senju-san, you said, I quote, 'Oh, and if you aren't there in five minutes, your asses are going back to the academy.'"

"Yeah, I did. And it's 'Morie-sensei' to you three. What do they teach you at that place?"

"What? You mean you'll teach us?!"

"Right. I said if you didn't get here in five minutes, you were going back to the academy. I just thought that if you didn't get here in five minutes, it meant you were not in-shape to begin _my _training. And I'm right before you say something again, Blondie.

"So, instead of letting you stand on a bridge, I'll let you sit at an Academy lunch table so we can make introductions in peace. Lesson two for the day: never assume. You can reason and use logic, but look beyond the apparent if you want to live for another year.

"All right, let's walk back and you can tell me your names if you're done heaving you three."

As she spun on her heel and began walking back, the three watched her with a certain sense of awe.

"Is she crazy, or just really unpredictable?" Kaito spoke with a stunned face as Naoto looked with wide eyes.

"My observations say both."

"Team Eight, get up here with me or I might _actually_ drop you."

"Coming, sensei!"

* * *

As the group of four took the scenic route to the outdoor tables, Morie decide she would see how well they could gather verbal information. Difficulty level: easy... ish?

"So, my name is Senju Morie as I told you. I dislike new genin since they always seem to be too verdant to explain anything but how to actually throw shuriken. I am older than most sensei here, so I know more about how you guys will be more trouble than you're worth for the next three years. Now, introduce yourselves and ask _one_ question."

"Alright, I'm Yamanaka Kaito, and I'm going to be better than our cousins that always make up the highlight Ino-Shika-Cho team. I dislike being called 'Blondie.' Why are you older than the other sensei here?"

"Okay, give me a reason to call you by your name tomorrow, and I won't call you Blondie, Blondie. Also, you will be better than your cousins if you actually try to be. And I mean you might be visiting the hospital more than you'd like if you're going through with it. Also, I'm older than the other sensei since I was born before them. Yeah, really bright there."

"You know what I meant!"

"Sorry, did you say something?"

She looked over with feigned innocence at his shocked face. Well, we know who the brash one is.

"Hm, Chip-boy, what about you?"

"Oh, my name is Amikichi Naoto. I only eat baked chips since, ya know, trying to watch my weight. Just big-boned, ya know? And I love espionage class since we get to dress up and act, totally like a play! Um… why are you teaching us since you look kind of like you rather not?"

Well, wasn't he observant. He may look oblivious, but he does pick up on things.

"Same rule for the name goes with you, kid. Baked chips are still chips, hence Chip-boy. I'm aware of you family's ability, so if I were you, I would eat what I actually want to. Your technique depends on a larger than average weight. Be comfortable with was the worst subject for me when my father taught me, but I apparently became more proficient since I'm still around.

"And that was barely a semi-decent question since you figured out I don't exactly want to be teaching. As you couldn't put two and two together, I was ordered to. At least you didn't assume though, but you'll have to figure out the line between assumptions and analytical reasoning."

"And, Specks," she drawled out, just itching to see what's behind that sweet face. seeing how her teammates usually shut up around the girl, she obviously commanded respect.

"I'll tell you my name tomorrow since you don't care now. I mean, why should I when you can use it against me? I wear glasses, but they could or could not be of any use to me. I might just be faking it. My teammates are my teammates, and while you already gathered enough on them to turn in a report, it doesn't mean I have to give myself away. One left to get back up is more useful than three in a jail cell for interrogation. My question is. why are you beginning the lessons now?"

"Good, at least one of you got the exercise. Just so you know, this is one of the most basic of verbal interrogation, so would you please figure out that you guys need to always be on alert?" She gave them a look that should have been repremanding, but there was a hint of something behind it, almost as if she were remembering something.

"You do need your glasses though. Those lenses are too thick and graduated to be anything but that. Before you say, 'I look over /under them,' you have them where you can't look anywhere but through your lenses. Also, as soon as the words came out of your mouth you adjusted them to a different frame of reference so you could give me that innocent 'I gottchya!' look. Cute, but I think I'm right. You see, I could believe you, but I don't. I wouldn't wage my life on it in a battle, but I do have some things I gathered.

"I think you're on the right track though. As for the team thing, you would make a great analyst once you learn to not voice everything that comes to your mind. And I'm starting lessons now so I can see how I'm going to lead the team."

As she gave them an appraising glance, akin to a shop owner wondering how much he could get out of his wares.

"Ah, we're here!"

"Okay, what are we going to do now, Morie-sensei?"

"Thanks for asking, Blondie. Since I think I know enough for now, I'm leaving. Tomorrow, your real training begins. Meet me at the tea shop on the corner of the C-section housing, the cross of the teashop at Ho and Tsuki. Quite whimsical names, don't you three think? Housing developments always have those... Anyway, if you're not there by 0700, then you can actually retake your classes at the Academy since you obviously can't read a map. Bye!" She poofed out of sight with a cheshire grin lifting her freckled cheeks.

Three genin stood for a moment, wondering about their fate. On unspoken agreement, they parted ways to hopefully sleep, and perhaps gather the mental fortitude for the next day.

* * *

**Ah, sorry for the late update, nonexistent fans. Thanks to Elly for keeping on the straight and narrow.**


End file.
